Saturday, March 3, 2018

Up Till Now...





Hi Everyone!

So I wanted to update you all on the goings on here in Belfast! It's been a bit of a whirlwind (still), as I've been getting settled in and acclimated to my new home. I've battled some illness as well, but I've also had some pretty amazing times already! God is so great, and I'm so excited for what the future will hold! Okay, so let's dive in.

Are you Okay...?

So, as I shared in my last post I got a stomach bug shortly after arriving. A few weeks later I was hit with a cold. I tried to rest and take care of myself, but it still took a little while before I could shake it completely. Then, last week, I was hit with yet another stomach bug. I've never had them so close together before. Usually illness hits when you move to a new place, as you acclimate to your new surroundings, but this just felt like one thing after another. I'm so thankful for all the people that love me, and were willing to bring soup, and medicine, and just sit with me while I tried to rest and recuperate. It is a testament to the family that I have joined here in Belfast, because I was treated as such. Encouraging texts, a willingness to brave getting sick themselves to bring me what I needed. I felt so loved, and it made my heart so incredibly happy to know that I have such amazing people surrounding me, loving me, and encouraging me here on the ground. I'm praying, and ask that you would do so as well, that I do not get sick again. So far, so good, but I still think it is important to be covered in prayer against any other illnesses.

Global Cafe


One of the ministries that I get to be a part of here in Belfast is the Global Cafe. We welcome new comers (Immigrants and Refugees) to our city by cooking a big meal connected with a country we pick for that month, playing some live music, and providing for needs they may have (clothing, toiletries, homeware, etc.). I've been to two so far, and it has been such a privilege to meet the amazing people that come to these gatherings. The first Global Cafe I participated in I had the privilege of helping to provide music, by singing. The food we had was from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it was just an amazing night to be able to serve with my gifts. The second Global Cafe was Puerto Rican night, and I had the opportunity to share food from my family, my country, and made arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), plantains, and beans. It was so fun, and a little stressful, but mostly fun, to be able to cook food that I love for this diverse group of people. There are people from different countries, with different faiths, that come together in this little space, and enjoy each other. It is so beautiful to see. I met a woman from Somalia, and was able to really connect with her. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of this event. As many of you know, I have a very big heart for the refugee, for immigrants, so this is such an incredible opportunity for me to be a part of, and I look forward to continuing in this ministry.

Youth Night

We also had our first youth night! As you know, my main focus while being here is being a youth minister. So it was pretty exciting to plan our first youth night! There aren't many in our church yet, only three, and only two could make it to our night out, but I loved being able to hang out with them, and get to know them a bit better. We did a movie night. We went to see Black Panther, then grabbed some food at McDonalds afterwards. I am really looking forward to our future youth nights, which we will be doing once a month to start, until we grow a bit larger. I pray that God will open doors for me in this area as well, to be able to reach out a bit more in our community as well. I want to be a safe space for our young adults, to be there for them, and a godly example to them. Also, since we have two young men, and one young woman, please be praying for a man to be able to help with this ministry. We have a policy of needing two adults being present whenever we do something with the youth, but it would be great if we could have a man to help as well, so we have someone for the young men to be able to talk to on a deeper level.

Everything Else...

I've also been helping to lead worship. I'm really excited to be getting back into this area of service. It's been a long time since I've led worship, or helped with worship at all. I'm so happy that God is using my gifts to help in this area as well. I love worship, I have such a heart for it, so I'm really enjoying playing piano and singing, and just giving glory to God through my gifts. 

I've also been building relationships with some of the young women I've met. Many of them are already Christians, at varying degrees of their walk with the Lord. I just feel so blessed to be a part of their lives, to potentially aid in discipleship, but ultimately being able to spend time with these wonderful women that have different experiences, different ways of looking at the Lord. God has blessed me to be able to be a part of their journey, and to have them be a part of mine.

I also wanted to share quickly, that I had the amazing opportunity to spend a week learning more about God on a deeper level. We had a friend come from the States (Minnesota actually, how funny!), he is a Messianic Jew, and taught us, in a different way than I've ever been taught. He broke down the scriptures in the Torah, and shed new light on old passages. It was an intensive week, but it was also so incredible to learn so much, to see God in a new way. He will be coming back two more times this year to visit, and I look forward to learning more from him.

That's All Folks

So that's a quick, basic recap of everything that's been going on! It's been such an amazing two months (Two months?!? Already?!?) being here, growing accustomed to saying "would that suit" instead of "does that work", "Hiya" instead of "Hi", and "Grand" instead of "Great" (among many other phrases), to different (and sometimes better) food, and buildings that never seem to quite get to warm, just warmer than outside. I am loving every moment of it, trying to soak it all in, and enjoy the newness of it all before it becomes commonplace to me. God is doing some pretty incredible things here, people are being healed, they are learning about Him, who He is, the great love He has for us, and the power He has. I cannot wait to see how He continues to move, and what else He has in store for us all. Until next time!

Blessings and Love,

Chrissy

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Go!



Hi Everyone! Greetings from Belfast!!

I have been here for a week already! I just wanted to share a bit about my first week here, and about future communications, so that we can all be on the same page. So here we go!

My first week here in Belfast has been quite interesting. I arrived last Thursday, I was met at the airport by the wonderful Johann and Andrea. Right off I was able to go view an apartment that was in a great location, and in my price range. It was really exciting to find such  a great place just a few hours after arriving. I fought through some jet lag, and had a lovely dinner with my ENB family! The next day was Johann and Andrea's eldest daughter, Makayla's birthday! So we went out to dinner to celebrate.

Unfortunately that night I was hit with a stomach bug, I thought at first was food poisoning, but I think it was actually a virus I caught on the plane. So I spent all of Saturday just resting and trying to recover. Thank you to everyone who prayed for me during this time!

Sunday I was feeling a bit better, and attended my first church service! I had the privilege of meeting several of our Every Nation Church Belfast members, and it was a lovely time becoming acquainted with them. I am so excited to see more of them in the future!

Monday, our day off, I was feeling fully better, but it was time to fast, as our church is spending this week in prayer and fasting. I also went to the city center to set up my bank account, and turn in my application for the apartment I had seen on Thursday. Afterwards I got to have coffee with Caly, Lenny, and their son Eli. It was lovely to just spend a bit of time with them and chat, and I loved spending time with Eli, as he reminds me so much of my niece Selah.

Tuesday was staff meeting, and it was so great just getting to be with my team, my family, here and pray together, plan together, and just being a part of everything. I'm so excited that I get to work with such amazing people! I am truly blessed! In the evening we had a time of church prayer and worship, and it was such a sweet time to be together in prayer and agreement with each other.

Last night I was able to attend a special welcome dinner for international students arriving at the university. It was a great time of fellowship, and while we were overstaffed, and I wasn't able to eat with any international students, I was able to eat with some students that are from Northern Ireland, and I was able to learn a little bit about my new home. It was a lovely time, and I'm glad that I could learn a bit about Northern Ireland from the locals!

Today I found out that I got the apartment I applied for! Praise God! So hopefully I will be moving in the end of the month! I am so excited to get fully settled in, and begin my regular schedule of work in the coming weeks, so that I can continue connecting with my new home, and my new friends here.

So, that was my first week here in Belfast! The shortened version, but overall it's been such a wonderful time getting to know my leaders, my family here, and my environment. I look forward to learning and knowing more about my home. God has been so good to me, and I think I can safely say He is just as excited as I am that I'm here. I know that He's got big plans, and I feel so honored and blessed to be part of those plans! I am so excited that you all get to be part of these plans as well, as you are actively supporting and praying for me, you are part of what God is doing here, how cool is that? I love how the body of Christ works! So to that end, I would like to update you on how I will be communicating with all of you during my time here in Belfast!

Okay, so my plan is to continue blogging monthly, but I am thinking about adding a new medium of communication in as well: vlogging. I am planning to do my first vlog in February, and if I feel that this is a good form of communication I might do one every other week, maybe just five to ten minute updates. If this is something that you are interested in seeing, please let me know, because I think this might be a fun, somewhat more interactive way to know what's going on. Plus, you won't forget what my lovely face looks like!

Also, side note, all online communication (this blog, my vlog) links will no longer be shared straight from my FaceBook page, so if you'd like to receive those links, and even immediate updates (if something major, but sensitive comes up) I do have a private FaceBook group called Chrissy's Call. If you would like to be added, you can just let me know, and I will add you to the group!

I will also be sending out a quarterly email newsletter. I do have some of your email addresses, but if you would like to make doubly sure, and would like to send along your email address so I can add it to my list, I would not mind at all.

Now, you may be wondering, why all the communication? Well, I would like you to feel as much a part of my journey as you actually are! I want to be as transparent as possible (If you haven't figured that out from some of my older posts), and I want to share all that God is doing as quickly as possible! So, the blog and newsletter will definitely stick, we'll see about the vlog, as it is a new possibility that may or may not stick. But all this to say, I want you to be as well informed as possible, because this is your journey too! If you have any questions, concerns, or want to share anything with me, please feel free to shoot me an email, Facebook message, text, WhatsApp, whatever you'd like!

As always, thank you all for your support and prayers, they mean the world to me. I am so excited to see what the future in Belfast will be like, and I cannot wait to learn all that God wants to teach me here. Stay tuned! Until next time,

Blessings and Love,

Chrissy